I saw them at inter bike. talked to the guy for about an hour about them. they got there start in the boat filming world: and then moved on to biking. He had one sucker stuck to a stand in thier booth and dared me to rip it off however i could. i even hung on it while jerking on it and it did not even move. I weigh 180+ at that time. I was very impressed i have not got one b/c i have a rack on my car that cost me a ton of money and dont really want to turn it into wall deco. that is what i know about them.

Coombs, take what I say with a grain of salt because I'm the FL rep for the product. I've been using Seasucker products since I was in the Marine Industry. As an avid suba diver I needed a tank rack to hold 3 tanks on my boat in 3-4ft seas at 45mph. My rack is 4 years old and has never let me down. Seasucker products are used in Military, Marine,Bike Racks and in the Movie making buisness. The 6in cup holds 200lbs of psi and the 4 in cup holds 100 lbs of psi. Suttle mentioned how he couldn't remove the cup by pulling on it. Truth be told no one removed that cup During Interbike the entire time week we were there. The racks were designed so that even in one cup was to loose pressure the other could still hold the load.
I've been using the 3 bike on top rack for over 8 months. I removed my Yakima system and haven't looked back since. I remove the rack when I change vehicles and to clean my car from time to time. It takes me 4 minutes to install the rack and 1 min to remove it. MT Bike Action named it one of the best new products of Interbike ( Jan-10) and Bicycling magazine & Mt Bike Action should be releasing their test results very soon. I'll post some pics from my car and let it go from there. If you wanna know more please IM or email off the MTBR forums.
Thx

I never liked the 'clip' mounting method, but I still LOVE my trays as well as my snowboard rack.

Is there a SeaSucker adapter to allow me to mount the bars from my Yakima (basically replacing the Q-Towers)? That would be ideal to me actually. That would allow me to use the bike racks, snowboard racks and the roof gear carrier that I already have.

EDIT: Oh wow, just saw the prices.. nevermind. My rack system was only slightly more expensive and I'm able to carry things other than just bikes. I hope those are just direct-purchase MSRP and distributors like you can sell them for cheaper, otherwise I'm not sure if it'll get the market penetration SeaSucker wants.

Seasucker will have the ability to adapt Yakima and Thule products in the future. We should have some pics for you down the road.

vaelin, Our products are hand made in Florida with materials from Florida. Our racks are made from billet aluminum and are powder coated, not painted like our competition. To make racks of this quality does cost more. Seasucker racks were designed to be universally used on vehicles without adapters. So having a product that you can travel with on a plane, set up on a rental car or just put on a friends car for the day pays off quickly. Any design ideas or suggestions you have both good or bad is ALWAYS welcomed at Seasucker !!! Thanks for your time

I'm not entirely trying to stir the pot, but that seemed quite a bit of marketing speak to justify the costs.

Billet aluminum, powder coating, that's all well and good, but as many Yakima and Thule rack owners can probably attest to, there's no need. There are plenty of your competitors' racks out there that are well beyond 5-10-15 years of service. Typically the billet aluminum argument is used because it's stronger and easier to produce in low-volumes, but significantly more expensive. The stronger argument it seems is moot however; the competitors' racks that aren't billet aluminum are still incredibly strong and reliable as well. I've (shamefully) rammed my rack into my parents overhang for the garage and essentially tore my roof from the A-pillar to the B-pillar with 3 bikes on top. No damage to the rack, a bit of damage to the cockpits of 2 of the bikes, and significant damage to the roof of my old Volvo. I'm still using that same rack 10+ years later, and all paid for is different clips/pads for my Q-Towers as I moved the rack from one car to the next.

Ignoring the versatility that I mentioned and then saying the rack is versatile is rather counterproductive too. The vast majority of rack users out there won't be taking their racks in their baggage to mount on a rental vehicle. If a friend's a rider, they probably already have a method of transporting their own bikes (and yours).

I'm just trying to provide a counter-point that a lot of consumers will think in their head when they try to justify SeaSucker's price versus the competition's. I seriously do think the fact that it's a universal mount is a HUGE selling point, as well as the fact that it comes on and off within minutes. However not addressing the other issues such as the cost as well as the lack of accessories or ability to adapt competitor accessories is going to be a big turn-off for lots of folks.

It seems SeaSucker uses 4 6" pods for the front of the 3-bike mount, as well as 3 more in the rear to hold down the wheels. Since the cost of the marine seasuckers seem to hover around $40-50, I would surmise that the cost of the rack is primarily because of the number of pods that are being used. Knowing the load limit of each individual pod, isn't it kind of overkill to have 4 up front? That's a combined shearing force load limit of well over 800 pounds.

Ideally a 2 or 3 pod setup that uses the traditional cross bars (either SeaSucker's own or a competitors such as Yakima's) will lower the costs and provide the option for customers to take advantage of a lot of accessories.

Oh well, food for thought. I've said all of this because I really think a universal mount is what was always needed.

will the seasucker work on the rear of a Boxster? The only guy selling rear bike racks for Porsche Boxsters and Carreras has closed shop.
I'm wondering if a seasucker fork mount over the rear trunk with the rear wheel held up by the license plate mount (similar to the one pictured below) might work. The downward slope of the trunk is problematic for any trunk mounted rear bike carrirer along with the fact that there's no rear bumper shelf.

I've had Yakima for years but now use a truck to transport bikes. This mount would be for those times I need to throw a bike on the sedan and not mess a full on roof rack. For the record, I used to be a rack whore, but now want something quick and easy to R&R, universal and that I pack and travel with.

To the rep, how should I decide between the raptor and talon if I have room for both? Does the bike sway in corners due to the soft mount? Are they suitable for heavier trail bikes that would also need a thru axle adapter which would raise the center of gravity?

Consolidated, The choice of the Raptor vs Talon should be based on the vehicle. I personally prefer the Raptor for most applications. The mount has a little give so the energy doesn't transfer into the vehicle. That being said it's also stiff enough to hold my Rocky Mountain Flatline (39lbs) from FL to WV with no problem at all. The wider stance of the Raptor distributes the weight evenly and over a large area. You mentioned the use of fork adapters. If you look above at the 2nd photo on the red Rocky Altitude you'll see the 15MM adapter. All the SS rack come with a standard 9mm skewer that can adapter to many forks with the adapter.

As for feedback, I have a slew of dealers that can give you feedback. If you would I can call you and answer questions. Please send me an email at mike@seasucker.com and I'll be happy to help.

It seems like an interesting idea. How do you secure the bikes and the SeaSucker when using it as a roof rack? It looks like the SeaSucker comes off pretty easily and there is nothing on the roof to lock the bikes or racks to once the SeaSucker has been released.

Also, is the vacuum use strong enough to dent sheet metal? Are there any restrictions on window or sunroof mounting since these surfaces may not be designed to be load bearing?

Consolidated, The choice of the Raptor vs Talon should be based on the vehicle. I personally prefer the Raptor for most applications. The mount has a little give so the energy doesn't transfer into the vehicle.

Thanks Traildawg,I ordered the Raptor, looking forward to trying it out. I was also thinking of trying it inside an enclosed car hauler, do you think it will deform the aluminum wall panels?

The bikes are secured via the special vacuum mounted seasucker. Each seasucker can hold up to 210 pounds each, but even more importantly there is an integrated pump with a check valve that tells you if it has lost any vacuum. All suction cups and vacuum cups eventually lose power, the seasucker pump will slowly reverse itself and show a red line indicating it needs a pump. You don't have to take it off and lick it, just pump it and you are back to full power. It can take days to weeks for any of the cups to loose any significant amount of vacuum, they do not just "release", they lose power over an extended period of time.

There is no need for extra straps or bungees, all our roof racks are way overbuilt with cup ratings from 630 to 1,260 pounds. Each rack has redundancy built in as well, these racks would actually work with 1/2 or 1/3 of the cups we currently employ.

The strength of the vacuum will not harm the vehicle or dent the sheet metal. Once we saw a very heavy mountain bike's rear wheel push in the sheet metal from the weight on one particular subcompact vehicle in the very center of the roof, but this was fixed by moving it a foot or so where the roof was stronger. Our 6" cups help spread the load so a lot of weight is not focused in a small area. The racks themselves are designed to spread the load over as large an area as possible, which really gives our racks its incredible strength and unobtrusive/non-marking capabilities.

All our racks can be safely used on any of the glass or metal, the load capacity of the glass and metal on vehicles far surpasses any load created by our racks with bikes attached, we have tested many of our racks with a 200 pound person either standing on it or sitting on the bike that is attached to the rack that is attached to the rear window of the vehicle. These things are ridiculously strong.

i have sea suckers and have had no issues.
i have taken multiple road trips all longer than 1000miles each way and havenít had to worry at all. to say the least i am a fairly aggressive driver... i will post up pictures later but. most recent road trip was from Florida to north Carolina on my jetta
i have the Talon and most of my bikes are 29ers

Does anyone have any feedback on what effect, if any, there is on a car's paint using these? I have a truck with a custom paint-matched hard bed cover, and a brand-new Mustang GT. While I'd love theability to put my bike up on either, I'd have to know whether the suction cups mar the paint at all. Thanks!

I've not seen any scratching yet, but I clean both surfaces before installation. I'm going to put down 3M film as a preventative. The mounts work great so far, I also use it in an enclosed trailer mounted to the interior wall.

It's been tested on this car well above the speed limit. The only issue so far is that if I hit a deep pothole the rear wheel mount will "pop" the sheetmetal roof if the strap is not set w/o play, so I now mount rear wheel tightly so it can't bounce and nearer to the edge for support.

I drive a 1987 Porsche 911 and wonder if these would be a good Thule/Yakima alternative - I worry about both placing weight directly on the roof, as well as peeling my old paint right off the metal. Any input on this?